Mechanism for controlling roller shutters or like closing means



Oct. 17', 1950 P THOMASSIN 6, 7

MECHANISMFOR CONTROLLING ROLLER SHUTTERS 0R LIKE CLOSING MEANS Filed March 23, 1949 Patented Oct. 17, 1950 MECHANISM For: ooriraoLLiNe norms snn'rrnas on LIKE orosnse MEANS Pierre Thomassin, Fretigney, France, 'assig-nor to Etablissements Ad. Mischler (Socit a Responsabilit Limite) Fretigney, France, a company of France Application March 23, 1949, Serial No. 83,024 In France March 30, 1948- 5 Claims. (Cl. 74-2176.5)

of the driving mechanism or against the second link of 'the chain, whichlocks the shutter against operation.

My invention has for its object to avoid such a drawback and concerns a mechanism for controlling chain-operated shutters that cannot be wedged whatever may be the tensioning of the chain. According to the invention, the control ling chain is guided at-the entrance into and outlet from the pinion inside two channels providedinthe casing and a suitably shaped member is held in the latter between the two strands of the chains so as to disengage the chain links from the pinion as'soonas they arrive into register with the channel in which they are to enter. Thus, even if the chain is very slack, it is impossible for the links of the strand that is about to leave the pinion and that is consequentlymore or less floating, to continue accompanying the pinion-as it rotates or to rockin the direction of such a rotary motion and thus to .be wedged inside the casing.

Preferably the casing is made of cast metal andincludes a boss located between the entrance and outlet ends of the chain and adapted to cooperate'with a similar boss provided on the casing .cover in order to form guiding channels in the casing and to hold between the two strands of the chain an extracting member oranti-knot guide. A locking device actuatedv by a spring may be associated with the mechanism for holding of example and by no means in a limiting sense so that the invention may be readily understood, the diiferent featuresappearing as well in the drawing as in the specification forming of course,

part of the invention. Infsaid drawings:

Fig. l is a view of the arrangement according to the invention, the chain being in. position in its casing the cover of whichhas been removed.

Fig. -2 is a vertical cross-section through line ii-!i of Fig. 1. I

.Fig. 3 is an. elevational view of the chain extracting member.

Fig. 4 is anaxial section of the chain pinion.

Fig. 5 is a side view of the locking means.

Fig. 6 is an end view corresponding to In the embodiment illustrated in the drawing, the pinion l controlling the chain 2 advances in a casing 3 closed by a cover tthat may be secured to said casing through any suitable means, for instance studs 5 passing through openings 6 in the cover and through which are inserted split pins '5. Between the two strands of the chain, bosses 3a and M of identical substantially triangular shape with a curvilinear base areprovided in register respectively on the casing and on the internal surface of the cover, .so'as to provide to either side thereof between the bottom of the casing and theinternal plane surface of the cover two channels 8 and 9 wherein the driving strand and the driven strand of the chain 2 may move. The concave curvilinear base of these bosses is designed in a manner such that the teeth in of the pinion i may rotate freely inside the casing at a small distance from this base.

To the triangular boss 3a provided in the casing is secured a rectangular projecting tenon ii) that engages a corresponding opening or recess in the cover boss, after passing through an also rectanguluar opening Ha provided in the spring steel member M (Fig. 3) assuming also a triangular shape, that is thus held fast-between the two strands of the chain. The pinion l is provided with two rows of teeth that are spaced axially and are located to either side of the triangularmember i i forming the chain extracting member, said member H assuming substantially the same outline as the bosses 3a and 4a while extending beyond the latter so as to engage the gap between the two rows of teeth of .the pinion "over a part ofthe circumference of the latter.

Advantageously and as illustrated in Fig. 2,- thernechanism includes locking means allowing the mechanism to be held fast and consequently providing for the closing of the shutter when the apparatus is released and allowed to operate of itself. To this purpose, the double pinion I is cut in the surface of a sleeve I2 provided with a square shaped axial opening l3, opening outwardly in order to receive the square rod of the controlling crank and extending inwardly of the mechanism so as to rotate in unison with a fiat U-shaped member Ia (Fig. 5) held in the bore or opening of the sleeve l2 and the arms of which are provided outwardly with two lateral tailpieces IS. The sleeve I2, shown on a large scale in Fig. 4, is held outwardly inside a bore provided in a suitable boss of the cover l while its inner end rotates inside a circular groove I! provided in the actual casing. The inner end of the sleeve I2 is provided moreover with four notches I8 (Fig. 4) arranged along two rectangular diameters and the breadth of which is slightly greater than the thickness of the tail-pieces N5 of the locking member I5. The latter are held in a groove I9 provided vertically inside the casing while a spring 2!! bearing against the bottom of the casing urges the locking member constantly against the sleeve I2 carrying the pinion I. To this end the recessed part Ilia of said locking member assumes at its inner end a conical or pyramidal shape for centering the spring that is held inside said recessed part.

The o eration is as fo lows: when inoperative the locking member !5 is ur ed outwardly by the spring 20 whereby its tail pieces I6 en age two opposite notches IS in the sleeve I2. The pinion I and its control chain are thus held fast against rotation by the locking member I5 that is in its turn held in the groove I9 oi the casing (Fig. 2) when it is desired to make the mechanism operate, the souare end of the crank that has a sufficient length is introduced into the opening l 3 and there is exerted through said crank an inward thrust. so that the locking member I5 is shi ted leftwards of Fig. 2 against the action of the spring 20 and its tail-pieces l6 move out of the notches I8, which releases the sleeve I 2 carrying the control pinion for the chain. When the crank is released, the spring 2:! urges the locking member I5 back into engagement with the sleeve 2! and the tail pieces I5 enter again the two opposite notches l9 and hold the closing means fast in their final position.

Supposing the rotation of the pinion is executed in the direction of the arrow F (Fig. 1) the strand 2I is stretched while the strand 22 remains slack. In standard mechanisms that include no extracting member and no guiding channel the links wound over the pinion are not urged of necessity when the chain is slack. in the direction of the slack strand 22 and they may during the rotation of said pinion be drawn along by the latter or fall back in the direction of the movement whereby they are wedged against the stretched strand 2! and lock the mechanism. In the arrangement according to the invention, the extracting member I that engages at the upper part of the pinion I the gap between the two rows of teeth on said member actually constrains the chain links to move off the pinion, whatever may be their direction of progression and it guides these links towards the corresponding channel, 9 in the case considered, which protects the chain 7 against any wedging inside the driving mechanism.

Obviously many modifications may be brought to the above described control mechanism, in parwidening thereby the scope of the invention as defined in accompanying claims.

What I claim is:

l. A chain mechanism chiefly for the control of roller shutters comprising a chain, a pinion driving same, a casing enclosing the pinion and cooperating portion of the chain and means for defining inside said casing separate channels for guiding two strands of the chain engaging said pinion and constituted by a triangular member having a slightly concave edge registering with the portion of the pinion lying between the two points of engagement of the chain strands with said pinion, the two other substantially rectilinear sides of the triangular member lying in the plane of, in parallelism with and at a small distance from the chain strand elements engaging the pinion and moving off same.

2. A chain mechanism chiefly for the control of roller shutters comprising a chain, a pinion driving same, a casing including a boss projecting between the ends of the chain strands that are about to engage and that have just moved off the pinion, a cover for the casing including a cooperating boss matching the shape of the first boss, said bosses defining with the inner wall of the casing, guiding passages for the chain ends considered.

3. A chain mechanism chiefly for the control of roller shutters comprising a chain, a pinion driving same, a casing including a boss projecting between the ends of the chain strands that are about to engage and that have just moved off the pinion, a cover for the casing including a cooperating boss matching the shape of the first boss, a thin extracting plate fitted between the two bosses, said bosses and extracting plate assuming a substantially triangular shape elongated in the direction of the ga between the chain strands and the end of which facing the pinion matches substantially the shape of said pinion and lies at a small distance from its periphery.

4. A chain mechanism chiefly for the control of roller shutters comprising a chain, a pinion driving same and provided with two axially shifted rows of teeth engaging the chain, a casing including a boss projecting between the ends of the chain strands that are about to engage and that have just moved off the pinion, a cover for the casing including a boss cooperating with and matching the shape of the first boss, a thin extracting plate fitted between the two bosses, said bosses and extracting plate assuming a substantially triangular shape that is elongated in the direction of the ga between the chain strands the end of which bosses and extracting plate facing the pinion matches substantially the shape of said pinion and lies at a small distance from its periphery for engagement between the two rows of teeth of said pinion.

5. A chain mechanism chiefly for the control of roller shutters comprising a chain, a pinion driving same, and provided with two axially shifted rows of teeth engaging the chain, a casing including a boss projecting between the ends of the chain strands that are about to engage and that have just moved ofi the pinion and a stud on said boss projecting outwardly, a cover for the casing including a cooperating boss matching the shape of the first boss, a thin extracting plate fitted between the two bosses and provided with an opening fitted over said stud on the first boss, said bosses and extracting plate assuming a substantially triangular shape elongated in the direction of the gap between the chain strands, the end. of which triangular bosses and plate facing the pinion matches substantially the shape of said pinion and lies at a small distance from its periphery for engagement between the two rows 5 of teeth of said pinion.

PIERRE THOMASSIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Name Date Hicks Sept. 21, 1869 Merrell Nov. 2, 1889 Nies et a1 Apr. 4, 1899 Shumaker Sept. 9, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Germany Apr. 24, 1936 

